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Since I was previewing a St. Patrick's day meal on the weekend, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for dessert. I had been seeing recipes for a chocolate stout cake around for a while and I really wanted to try it. I would not have thought about adding a stout beer like Guinness to a cake and I was very curious to see how it would work. I also liked the fact that this chocolate cake used sour cream which I also found interesting.

The last time that I made a cake I had problems getting the cake out of the pan so this time I made sure to grease the pan really well and I even greased the parchment paper liner. This time the cake came out of the pan like magic and the parchment paper pealed off of the cake with ease.

The cake came together quickly and easily. After I got it into the oven I had a chance to sit down and relax while finishing the rest of the open can of Guinness while the cake was baking. The chocolate stout cake turned out even better than I had thought would and I had high hopes from the beginning. It was nice and light and tender and moist and chocolaty and good!

Just when you thought it could not get any better than a chocolate cake with Guinness in it... how about topping it off with some Bailey's cream cheese frosting? I could not pass up on trying the Bailey's frosting from Nook and Pantry'scupcake version of the chocolate stout cake. An Irish beer and an Irish liqueur in one magically delicious dessert!

When doing food and wine pairing a rule of thumb is that the wine that went into cooking the meal would go well with the meal. I took that theory to the test and applied it to beer and I enjoyed a Guinness with the chocolate stout cake. Note: If you can find a chocolate stout, I would think that that would also work really well both in the cake and being served with the cake.

Chocolate Stout (Guinness) Cake

Stout brings out the flavours of the chocolate in this light and moist chocolate cake.

ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup stout (such as Guinness)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2/3 cup sour cream

directions

Melt the butter in a sauce pan, remove from heat and let cool a bit.

Mix in the stout and cocoa powder.

Mix the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.

Mix the eggs and sour cream in another large bowl.

Mix the stout mixture into the egg mixture.

Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.

Pour the batter into one or two greased and parchment lined circular cake pan(s).

Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean. If you bake it in a single pan then it should take about 40-50 minutes. If you bake it in two cake pans then it should take about 20-30 minutes.

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comments:

I have made this chocolate stout cake before with plain cream cheese frosting, and I really like it. I am going to make is again this weekend. I was also going to make corned beef and colcannon. I think I will try your honey mustard recipe, it sounded really good! Love the blog!

I've made this cake several times and it's always excellent. I have never tried the Bailey's Cream frosting on it though. I have used that on brownies. What a great idea to use it on this cake. I am going to use that frosting also when I make it again!!!

Man, I can't keep up! I'm going to have to make a special folder for just your recipes or recipes that you've passed along. While I don't care for chocolate cake you have me wondering if this could be the cake to make to change my mind!~ingrid

I made a chocolate cake with pureed tomatoes in it, and it was good enough to make a grown man cry. The fruits must just give it an added umph! Of course, I'm glad you were able to think of a good use for the rest of the Guinness Stout!

I reckon Youngs Double Chocolate Stout, which is lovely in it's own right by the way, would go well in this, as would some green food colouring or sprinkles on top.http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/youngs-double-chocolate-stout/139/

Chocolate goes well with any alcohol doesn't it? I've made a chocolate kahlua cheesecake before, but never thought to mix stout with chocolate (except Young's Double Chocolate Stout in a can :) - thanks for the sharing this recipe!

What a great idea to pair the cake with Bailey's!And drinking beer with cake! That’s a new one!Sometimes I bump into raspberry beer and such. Do you think those would work too?Kevin, I am always searching for new/innovative ideas for simple cakes with an oomph, so I’ve launched a “Cake Collection” happening last night with a giveaway: http://www.familyfriendlyfood.com/2009/03/launching-cake-collection-with-a-giveaway/Would you do me the honor and submit this cake to my “collection”? There’s a giveaway too…Nurit

Nurit - 1 family. friendly. food: I have never tried it with a non stout beer. I see no reason why it would not work, though it would be different. Raspberries go with chocolate and trying new things is always fun.

The cake was a HUGE hit at the office -- it's light and moist and perfectly chocolate. The icing was too sweet for my taste, I drizzled it on rather than frosting the cake completely and the office folks loved it. I put the extra out so people could add it as they saw fit and quite a few did. Delicious recipe

Wow, how on earth did I miss this one? And with 95 people commenting before me, I think I'm the ONLY person to miss it. ;)This cake looks fantastic, Kevin! I wonder what else that frosting would be good on...I've got a large bottle of Irish Cream in the fridge. Yum!

i just stumbled upon this cake last week it looks really good and smells really good too (it in the oven right now) i might have to kick the baileys up a little bit as long as i can keep good concistancy i am very excited about eating it

yum, i want to make this! do you think that the frosting would keep in the fridge for 3 days? I want to make one batch of cupcakes for a party on sat, and one for another on sunday, and would love to make the icing only once. thanks!

This cake is too good to not try but I'm making it for a large group so doubling the batter recipe and making a layer cake with it. Do you think it would be frosting overkill to use this between the layers and on top? If so, would a chocolate ganache work well in the middle with the frosting on the top?

WOW! Made this recipe into cupcakes for the office for St. Pat's day and they were a huge hit!So I made it again, in two layer cake form, adding three teaspoons espresso powder to the cocao powder, and using a chocolate cream cheese icing. It's possibly the BEST chocolate cake I have ever had! Divine!! Thank you for sharing!

Just made these into cupcakes, and they turned out so great! I used knockoff Baileys because it was a lot cheaper, but the bonus was I didn't feel too bad using it liberally in the frosting :) Thanks for a great recipe!!

I made this for my sister's birthday cake this weekend, and everyone was blown away. So. Crazy. Good. My mom, the best baker I know, the woman who taught me everything I know, dubbed this one of the best cakes she's ever had. It has an awesome crumb - moist yet dense (in a great way,) just sweet enough without being too much.

I made 2 nine inch cakes, and it was awesome with a layer of frosting in between. Two things - I for some reason has an awful time getting the cake out the pans. Could very well be I was using old, crappy pans. Next time I'd probably add a dusting of cocoa to the pan in addition to greasing. Also, I doubled the frosting and had to thicken it up quite a bit. I wouldn't want to lose any of the Bailey's flavor (SO good!) so I'd probably just up the cream cheese and powdered sugar somewhat.

Thank you so much for the recipe! I'll definitely be making this again...and again....and again....

Last year for a St. Paddy's promo I made two kinds of Guinness Cupcakes for my clients. One was with butter, and it was soooooo much tastier than the oil variety. I will try this, this weekend. Thanks.

My Chocolate Stout cake turned out spectacular but I have a question about cooking with Guinness. My husband asked if I should have poured the entire can of Guinness into a mug first so the nitrogen could be released? I just poured the amount I needed and left the rest in the can not activating the little canister thus not a lot of pretty foam. What are your thoughts?

This cake was to-die-for!!!! Rave reviews from all my guests and I even had friends come over today to sample toe leftovers because they had heard about it! I bakes it into a layer cake and doubled the frosting to add some as a filling and to cover the sides. I used baking Pam and that worked like a charm. Reading the recipe again today, I am actually wondering if I accidentally used 1cup of sour cream...I kind of remember filling my measuring cup 3 times. My only changes were using low fat cream cheese and low fat sour cream. Cut out a few calories ;-) What would happen if I didn't use as much butter or cut it out all together??

Hi Kevin,Wondering why the cocoa powder is included with the wet ingredients and not the dry (flour and sugar)? Mine got quite lumpy in the butter/Guinness mixture. I think it would be much better if it was mixed in with the dry.

Also, I cooked mine as 2 9" rounds. It took 45 minutes to cook!

This will be my fourth time making this cake. It is my husband's favorite and it is now tradition to make it for his birthday, as well as for St Patrick's day!

Jojo: I am glad that you like the cake! I prefer to mix the cocoa powder into the wet ingredients because I find that it combines better and it should easily melt into the simmering liquids with a bit of whisking. Was the cocoa powder really packed in when you added it or nice and loose? Mixing it in with the dry ingredients would definitely work!

I always recommend using the toothpick method for deciding when the cake is done as every oven is a little different and things like altitude and moisture can affect the baking time.

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I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.